A Fort Called Columbia
by BonesBird
Summary: Jon wakes up to discover Serena has built a fort, and named it Columbia. Erika picks a great time to tell Jon some big news.


**Hello friends, I'm posting this for the lovely Amelia Elizabeth. A bit of Archer family fluff just for you.**

**Shin xx**

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It wasn't often Jonathan Archer was left to sleep in late, especially not these days. Serena seemed to enjoy waking him at unearthly hours. She tended to leave Erika alone, but daddy had to get up. Today he could hear her laughter, and it was clear Erika's side of the bed was empty. He wondered which of his girls had been up first, he was willing to bet this time it was Erika. She had been struggling with her PTSD lately, they were both trying to work through it, but sometimes she had just needed to get up and do something.

He rolled over to check the time, and shook his head. His idea of 'sleep in late' seemed to be 8am these days. But he also knew that he wasn't going to get back to sleep. So he pulled a shirt on and headed downstairs. The view upon entering the living room was the largest pillow fort he'd seen in a long time, and the laughs emanating from it told him his four year old was playing inside.

"Rena." He called, bending down to see where she would appear from. He listened as the giggling stopped and Serena shuffled herself out, standing up in front of her fort with the biggest smile he'd seen in a while.

"Morning daddy!" She said brightly. He wondered exactly how long they had all been up, for this level of detail on the fort, he was betting a couple of hours at least.

"Did mommy help you build this fort?"

"It's not a fort, it's Columbia!" Serena shouted and jumped up and down and clapped her hands.

"Is it now?" He was unsurprised, it had been a game for as long as he could remember, whoever helped Serena build something got to pick which ship it was named after, but Serena always ended up going with Columbia anyway, maybe it was just easier for her to say.

"Mommy said that since she helped build her she was named after her ship."

"I bet she did." He mumbled, kneeling down properly in front of Serena and smiling as he looked through the opening to the interior of her ship. Curious as to what else Erika had given her to play with.

"You're supposed to help me daddy! Mommy said you're a pirate."

"I'm a pilot, Rena. Not a pirate." He shook his head with smirk.

"Oh. But mom showed me a picture where you were dressed like a pirate. You had purple pants and everything!" He silently cursed his wife, and more cursed Trip for not doing as ordered and destroying all copies of the photos taken from that particular talent show, neither Trip nor Erika had looked quite so ridiculous in their costumes. That made him think of the musical they'd performed, which was all a play on the similarity between the words "pirate" and "pilot". So he could let his four-year-old off the hook.

"Did she now. I was a pirate once, a long time ago, and on a dare. But I was a pilot on a ship."

"I thought you were a hat mural." She said, a look of concentration on her face as she clearly tried to remember how to say the rank she heard all the time. Apparently 'Captain' had been easier to learn, plus, people calling the house often used Erika's rank.

"I am an admiral, now. Yes. I was a pilot though, when I met your mom."

"So, will you be my pirate daddy." Serena asked, and he gave up correcting her, she'd learn as she grew up, for now if she wanted to think of him as a pirate in his purple pants he'd let her go on thinking that.

"Yes, I'll be your pilot." He shook his head as he was pulled into the 'ship'. He was shown his fellow officers, and the pillow and empty toilet roll cover that were his equipment. He thoroughly enjoyed listening to his daughter and her idea of what command was. Mostly telling him that he was doing things wrong. He thought that she had definitely gone through Erika's school of command, how many times during the NX programme had she told him that he was doing something wrong. Probably too many to count. He lost track of the time the longer he spent playing with Serena, thoroughly enjoying every second of it.

"Enjoying yourself Jonathan?" He heard, quite muffled through the layers of pillows and blankets that had made up the ship he and Serena had been playing in. He disengaged himself from the stuffed animals that made up the rest of Captain Rena Archer's crew and all but fell out of the only proper entry.

"Oh yes, and I really enjoyed finding out you showed Serena pictures from Pirates of Penzance." He gave her a sarcastic look, and tried not to be a little annoyed by the smirk she shot back at him.

"But you looked so cute in your purple pants." She smirked again then turned back the the ship. "Rena, I need to steal daddy for a minute." Erika spoke in the direction of Serena, who poked her head out of the space she had designated the viewscreen and looked up at her mother.

"That's OK, he's a bad pilot anyway." Serena shrugged and shimmied back into her ship, already giving orders to the armada of stuffed animals she had as her crew. He opened his mouth to make the point he was actually a good pilot, but the look on Erika's face told him that maybe wasn't the best idea he'd ever had.

"What's wrong?" He asked, judging from the lack of urgency, he assumed it wasn't anything deadly, but clearly Erika wanted him for something.

"Nothing, I was just thinking, are you ready for another few years of playing with pillow ships and teddies?" She asked, and he grinned with a shrug, he actually did enjoy playing these silly little games with Serena, and if they lasted forever he'd probably still enjoy them. He knew that his little girl wouldn't be so little for much longer, and he needed to enjoy it now.

"Serena's not grown up yet." He said, looking back to the pillow ship that he'd spent the last hour playing in. Erika nodded and just looked at him for a second with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Not what I mean."

"What is it Erika?" He asked, utterly confused about what she could possibly mean.

"I'm pregnant." Erika smiled and all he could do was stare at her. Was she really telling him that, something that they had spoken about after Charlie had arrived, when they'd thought about possibly having another baby, but he hadn't been sure they would ever actually survive it.

"Wait, really? We're having another baby?" He stammered, pulling Erika toward him and resting his hands on her hips.

"We're due at the end of January." Erika confirmed with a nod, resting her arms on his shoulders and playing with the hair at the nape of his neck again.

"We'll have to put you on bedrest early. We're having another baby?" He asked again, just needing to have it all straight in his mind. He was going to be a daddy again, he and Erika had somehow managed to create another life together. At their ages it wasn't exactly something he had expected, but somehow it had happened, and he couldn't have been happier.

"What is everyone so happy about?" Serena asked climbing out of her ship and growled a little. He figured that Serena had inherited her annoyed face from him, considering he never remembered seeing that particular expression on Erika's face.

"Rena, you're going to have a baby brother or sister." He smiled, wondering how she was going to take that news.

"Oh. When?" Their daughter sounded extremely disinterested in the news, maybe because she remembered when Charlie had arrived. Then again, maybe Serena just wasn't happy about babies.

"After your birthday." Erika said, and Serena just looked as though she was doing extremely difficult maths in her head before she put her hands on her hips and shook her head at her parents.

"That's ages away. Tell me on my birthday." She said and ducked back into her ship, Jon pulled Erika into his arms.

What a way to find out he was going to be a father for the second time. He had always wanted a family, but he had been pretty sure he and Erika were done after Serena, he'd got his little girl and his wife and that was enough. Erika laughed as he kissed her again, and he could tell she was as happy as he was about this. Funny considering at one time she hadn't wanted children. "I love you." He muttered against her cheek, keeping hold of her tightly. All he could think about right now was how happy he was, even once Serena ran out to drag him back to playing the game. He was definitely ready for more of this.


End file.
